Pregunta sobre / question about "Mexicoamericanos o Mexicano estadounidense"

Question

Sé que la gente de Canadá, Estados Unidos y México son los 'americanos' Son los siguientes términos correctos para identificar qué parte del continente son? ¿Qué término se prefiere?

I know people from Canada, the United States and Mexico are all ‘Americans’ Are the following terms correct to identify which part of the continent they are from? What term is preferred?

Mexicoamericanos o Mexicano estadounidense / United States Mexican Americans

Estados Unidos americanos o Estadounidense americanos / United States Americans

Americanos Canadiense o Canadienses / Canadians

Answer 1

It is not necessary to include "americanos" at the end of "estadounidense". The term "estadounidense" is the Spanish demonym for residents of the United States, the English demonym for residents of the United States is "American".

Example: Soy estadounidense./ I am American.

While technically all residents of "the Americas" (North and South America) are "American", the official U.S. demonym is still simply "American". For this reason I prefer the Spanish term "estadounidense" as it helps specify which country within the Americas is being referred to.

That is not correct, however, as the official/complete name of Mexico is "Mexican United States" sooooo? :) See the problem? - chileno, Aug 14, 2013

Answer 2

As for the other questions you have, as far as I know a citizen of Mexico is (in English) a Mexican and (in Spanish) a mexicano/mexicana. A citizen of Canada is (in English) Canadian and (in Spanish) canadiense. A person of Mexican heritage living within the United States or a recently-immigrated Mexican individual is, in English, sometimes referred to as a "Mexican-American" or, in Spanish, a "mexicano-estadounidense" (this is the most widely-accepted politically correct term), however many Mexican-Americans have different preferences on how to refer to their unique heritage. For example, "chicano"/"chicana", "latino"/"latina" (although this is a much more broad term that doesn't only apply to Mexican-Americans), etc. As for Canadians, Canadian-Americans are "canadiense-estadounidense" in politically correct terms.

Answer 3

I"ve seen both Méxicano-americano(a) and Méxicano-estadounidense used both generally, and on govt forms. What is preferred depends on the speaker and their social bent. I´ve seen very spirited debates among latinos themselves on the topic. Both of the above, and in my region of the country, simply ´latinos´ which though obviously not exclusively Mexican, usually is the case. Then there is the term chicano, which I´ve yet to see them agree on themselves. Not my place to say in any event, but it´s interesting to watch the debate sometimes, especially at community events during election cycles.